Terence Mauri is the founder of the management think thank Hack Future Lab, a bestselling author and a visiting Professor at IE Business School. Terence challenges leaders to pivot from ‘wait and see’ to ‘explore and disrupt’ in a world of complexity and uncertainty. Terence says: ’Building a bold and resilient future never happens by accident. To sustain vitality for the long-term, we must have an eye on the future while searching every day for the upside of disruption.’ His recent publications include co-authoring Thinkers50’s Certain Uncertainty: Leading with Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World’ and Building Resilient Organizations: Best practices, tools and insights to thrive in ever-changing contexts.

In this episode, he shares:

• What “unlearning” is and why its so important
• How excess bureaucracy and complexity are significant barriers for senior leaders to unlearn
• Why we must prioritize context over control, embrace autonomy and accountability, and foster cultures of curiosity rather than conformity
• Why companies should avoid the trap of overestimating the risk of trying something new while underestimating the risk of standing still

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:55—Introducing Terence + The topic of today’s episode

2:24—If you really know me, you know that...

3:33—What is your definition of strategy?

4:33—Can you talk to us about your concept of unlearning?

6:59—What is the barrier that keeps organizations from implementing a culture of unlearning?

9:24—Could you explain your concept of "concept over control"?

11:18—What does a career ladder look like nowadays?

12:25—Could you talk to us about the risk of standing still?

14:14—Why do you believe we should we be planning from the future?

16:26—How does one do the third piece of activating the urgency within your organization?

18:03—How do you suggest companies move to a more decentralized org structure without the cognitive overload?

20:20—What do you think is something people should know as a closing thought?

21:01—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://www.terencemauri.com/

Books: https://www.terencemauri.com/#bestsellers

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terencemauri

Twitter: https://twitter.com/terencemauri

Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

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